


Promise

by Wishywash



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Blood, Civil War AU, Gore, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8422846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishywash/pseuds/Wishywash
Summary: “I promise you Qrow. I’ll keep our home safe. I’ll come back
“I’ll be here James,” he promises, “I’ll defend Mantle if it’s the last thing I do.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I should really work on my soulmate au but I'll just post this instead. 
> 
> Also, ignore the timeline. Just, like, throw the timeline out the window. Time is an illusion.

They were different but the same. 

He had wealth. Status. Power. All blues and whites. Professional. Stiff. Boring.

Qrow? He was the opposite. Poor. Too reckless. Too sarcastic. Too bad. Red was his thing. Reds and greys and bloody knuckles.

So how did they end up like this?

How did they end up as friends?

They sat there, in the dining hall, and they laughed and smiled as if they weren’t from two different worlds. 

“Qrow,” James’ voice bubbles into his thoughts, blue eyes filled with mirth and only a hint of concern. “You’re in your own head again.”

He smiles, red eyes flickering back up to focus on his friend’s face. “Sorry Jimmy,”—James’ brow twitches at that – “Guess I just started thinking too hard.”

The man across the table from him shakes his head, bringing his cup of coffee to his lips once more. “Don’t go doing that. I’m sure it’s hard to think with all that straw in there.” He teases. No matter what anyone said about the top student of their academy, James did have a sense of humor.

Though it was a poor one.

“Ha,” Qrow lets out a dull laugh, “Real proud of you for that one, Jimmy.” James’ brow twitches harder at his emphasis, but he doesn’t bother to say anything. It was pointless.

James stands from his seat, moving over to look out the window. Ships dotted the sky even now, shuttles moved amongst the clouds at alarming speeds. Things were beginning to heat up. Qrow brings out the flask that he had hidden in the inner pocket of his uniform, taking a long swig of it before James speaks.

“It’s almost time,” He says, the previous mirth in his voice now lost with the statement.

Qrow stands, a little shakily, moving to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I know.”

“Is it bad that I’m scared?” 

“No,” his hand slips from his shoulder only for it to be encircled a second later by James’ fingers.

Qrow doesn’t so much see, as he hears James swallow thickly, “I’ll have my own troops. My own squad.”

“Yeah,” Qrow nods, “You’ll be a good leader.”

“I won’t be back until … Until this war is over.” 

“I’ll be here. You know that,” The hand wrapped with his squeezes. James turns his head. Qrow sees it then, that determination that he’d come to know.

“I promise you Qrow. I’ll keep our home safe. I’ll come back.” And then he does it. After months of waiting, James finally kisses Qrow, right there in front of that window. 

Qrow’s heart soars.

Qrow’s heart plummets.

“I’ll be here James,” he promises against his lips, “I’ll defend Mantle if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Just come home.”

The war ends. 

James keeps his promise. 

He comes back. 

Just not all in one piece. 

Qrow stands there, as if he’s in a dream. All around him are beeping machines and crying members of James’ family. 

What had they done to him? Was there even a man under all that machinery? Was he even alive by this point? 

Was he ever going to wake up? 

He’d always done so well. It didn’t make sense. They said there’d been an explosion, that it was an accident. 

It didn’t make sense. 

Qrow stands there for minutes (or is it hours?) and before he knows it, he’s alone with James. There is only the beeping (that constant fucking beeping) and the sound of James’ labored breaths that are helped along with the many hoses attached to his chest. What was left of his chest. 

He moves to him now, his hand reaching out to sweep through dark hair. It’s patchy and burnt, but still mostly intact. 

“Hey Jimmy.” 

James’ brow doesn’t twitch. 

Qrow stares and stares, but it doesn’t twitch. 

Tears form, but he quickly quells them by sweeping an arm over his eyes. 

“You kept your promise,” He says, knowing that there was no one to hear him, not even James, “But it’s time I kept mine. They built that fancy school and now … now they’re saying they’re going to move the capital.” 

Qrow’s fingers sweep through James’ hair steadily, the motion is more for himself than anyone else. “I told you I’d defend Mantle…” 

He swallows hard, leaning down to kiss James’ forehead. It was sticky and clammy, two things that James Ironwood never was. 

“...So that’s what I’ll do.”

James was, officially, Atlas property. 

No one really stated it, but he was. When half your body is government equipment, they basically own you. It was an experiment that had worked out in his favor, now he only owed his soul to the new city that had cropped up in the year it had taken to regain consciousness. 

There had been so many changes over the course of the war, it was no surprise that many had wanted to move the capital to the newly formed city of Atlas. 

But the continent was split, should they abandon the home they had worked so hard to defend? Or should they move to this new one, where there was a better chance for survival? 

James didn’t know what to think, not that he had a choice. Now that Atlas had chosen to save him, he would have to work with them. 

He looks down to his hands, one metal, one flesh. Was he even human anymore? Being half machine? He didn’t know. 

The machines still beep around him, the hospital is stark white, there is no color in this room besides the glowing blue lights in his arm. He misses color, some sort of contrast to the blandness around him. 

He misses… 

James looks to his bedside table, framed there is a picture of James and Qrow during their academy days. He sighs, leaning his head back into his pillows and letting out a long breath. He hadn’t seen Qrow since before he left, that day he’d kissed him in the dining hall. 

They’d written to each other, of course, but those messages were stored on his now destroyed scroll. 

His family had told him that the red eyed man had come to visit him when he was admitted, but hadn’t been seen or heard from since then. It wasn’t like Qrow to just abandon James like this so… 

What was that man doing?

Was it true that war always led to more war? 

Probably, in Qrow’s experience at least. 

Because now the continent of Solitas was embroiled in a civil war the likes of which hadn’t been seen in centuries. It was Atlas versus Mantle, soldiers and civilians alike had taken up arms to fight for their city, and thus, their home. 

Qrow was no different. He had taken up his scythe to defend the home that he had always lived in, and the one that James had nearly died for. 

He only hoped that he would live long enough to see James again. 

There was a reason why Qrow hadn’t been on the front lines of the war. He wasn’t made for long drawn out fights. He struck quick, hard, and fast but he didn’t have the stamina to keep doing it over and over again. 

Like now, he really didn’t have the energy to keep doing it now… 

Qrow ducks behind a tree just in time, laser fire sounding off to his right. It seemed that the Atlesians had deployed more of their robo-warriors. It was the bad thing about fighting them, they could mass produce their soldiers within seconds, while Mantle was forced to send out real soldiers, who were irreplaceable. 

Qrow cusses, switching to his shotgun and firing from behind the tree. There is the familiar sound of bullets meeting metal, and he takes the chance to swing around with his sword, taking out the rest of the metal-men in one fell swoop. There is more gunfire to his right, and in the distance he can hear the familiar boom of fire dust being set off. 

Mantle was on its last legs. 

They didn’t have the tech that Atlas had. They didn’t have the numbers that Atlas had. The only thing Mantle had going for it now was its quickly depleting deposits of dust. Qrow tries to shake off the thoughts. There was no use thinking about that now. He had to clear the area so that more troops could be deployed, hopefully they could hold this sector and hunker down before Atlas realized they were here. 

A laser zips passed his ear and Qrow just manages to duck down in time to miss his head being blown to bits. 

“More of you?” He yells, taking out his shotgun once more to deal with his attackers, but that’s when he sees it… 

He’s bulkier than he remembers, he’s also a bit lopsided, but that’s what happens when you’re half metal right? The smile that splits his face is equally excited and anxious. 

James. It’s James. 

James turns, sees him, Qrow lifts his hand to wave…

Out of one war, into the next. 

Atlas, in all its wisdom, had taken on aggressive negotiations. He was both exasperated and terrified. What did it mean for their future if brother fought brother like this? 

But he couldn’t think about that, he couldn’t think about the people he was killing out on the battlefield and how, at one time, he had fought to defend them. He couldn’t think about the families he was tearing apart, or the towns he was dooming with each battle. He just couldn’t think about it. 

It was true that Atlas was able to send out entire armies of robots to do their dirty work for them, but they still required human direction and care. This is where he and the other specialists came into play. While the robots did the bulk of the fighting, he made sure that they followed orders and didn’t malfunction. This also brought him into many fights, both at long and short distance. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter. 

His only solace was that this civil war would soon be over. Mantle was being pressed close to the brink, Atlas had the upper hand. It wouldn’t be too much longer now. Maybe then he could finally rest. 

One, two, three shots. Another man dead. 

James reloads his gun; his robots move forward. This sector was to be secured before Mantle could dig themselves in and make a final stand. It would conserve both Atlesian and Mantle lives if they could stop them here and now, meaning that James was to take out their forward scouts. The robots shoot, someone fires back, they manage to take a whole squad out with a single stroke from their sword. 

If James could find the time to feel impressed, he would be. 

Another scout bursts out of the tree line from his right, and James takes the time to stop them before turning his attention back to the other scout, his troops slowly surrounding them. 

But then… 

… That smirk, those eyes…. 

No. It couldn’t be. He’d never considered. It’d been so long. 

Qrow lifts his hand to wave.

There is a burst of laser fire.

“No!”

The word is a howl in his throat. 

One, two, three shots. He takes down his own squad of robots. 

Red blooms on a grey shirt, Qrow coughs and red splatters over the ground, everything is red. 

“J-Jimmy?” It’s a quiver in the air. James falls to his knees before him, hands shaking, eyes wandering over the wounds that have made their home in Qrow’s chest. 

“Qrow…” He breathes out, finally taking him into his arms, he lays in his lap, limp. “No, Gods, no.” He doesn’t know when he starts crying, but there are tears pouring down his cheeks. Qrow is getting more and more pale by the second. “Why did you- What made you-?” His thoughts are a mess of half-finished connections. 

“I promised…” His voice is barely a whisper, but James catches it. Suddenly he’s sent spinning back to that day in the dining hall, back before he was only half human, back to when he had kissed Qrow and made all those promises. 

He shakes his head, dull red eyes are staring up at him, “I promised too? Didn’t I? And look what happened…” He says, a hand pressing to Qrow’s chest, trying to at least mitigate the bleeding there. 

Qrow’s hand finds his sticky with blood, that stupid smirk on his lips even now, “You kept it though, right? You came back.” He whispers, “I said I’d protect Mantle…” 

“…I…” He’s at a loss for words for a moment, “But I wanted to protect you…” 

“…And I wanted to protect you…” 

James cusses, “We were so busy trying to protect each other that…” He looks to those red eyes, they’ve gone dull, too dull. The light is gone. 

Qrow is gone. 

“…We didn’t get to be with each other…”


End file.
